GRR Reviews A Love of Vengeance (Wanted Men Book by Nancy Haviland

A Love of Vengeance is a mob romance but with sufficient research plus suspense and intrigue to make things genuinely interesting. However, the pace seems a little on the slow side.

Gabriel Moretti, aka "Gabe Moore" was summoned from his European post back to New York at his mentor's request. His mentor, Vasily Tarasov, is the Russian crime boss and he needed someone he can trust, but outside of his normal circles, to take care of a very personal problem... To keep his daughter safe all the way on the other side of the country, in Seattle, for someone in a rival crime syndicate killed her mother Catherine. Eva Jacobs never knew her father, and when her mother died in an auto accident, she vowed to finish her degree and make the best of her life, until Gabe entered her life. He made her tingle in all the right ways, and she gave him her v-card... then found out he's also her boss in this position she was just hired for. She was mortified, it was then Gabe revealed that he was protecting her... from the shadows, for months... from a threat that even he had to honor... His half-brother Stefano Moretti. You see, Gabe is the illegitimate son of Don Moretti, part of Cosa Nostra, and he can never be a "made man" like Stefano. Originally Gabe was simply going to a different family and start over, until Moretti sends him to leave a car bomb at the other family's business, destroying them... and Stefano's girlfriend died there as well, and Stefano never forgave him. Gabe lost SEVERAL girlfriends (dead, butchered) and the only one who wanted to hurt him was Stefano... and now that Gabe is involved with Eva... things got very dicey indeed... and there will be a confrontation, between brothers... while a manipulator work from the background... waiting for his chance... using Eva as the pawn... and pawn is meant to be sacrificed...

There were only a few "too stupid to live" moments, that are *almost* plausible, given the context. The "twist" you probably may not see until the very end, which I will not spoil. Let's just say, there's someone in the background to make sure certain people will always have a misunderstanding about each other. And I find that person's motivation a bit weak. My main gripe with the book is it just feels... long.

Category: Romantic Suspense

Primary Plot: Mobster protege was summoned to protect mob boss's estranged daughter from another crime family...

Tropes: mafia, protector, woman in peril, conspiracy, family secrets, fling to a thing

Overall Rating: 4/5 (rounded up)